Job searching is hard enough as it is. Don’t make it any harder than it needs to be.

Recruiters and hiring managers see it all. One-size-fits-all rules don’t work for everyone. But there are some common mistakes we see time and again.

The good news is you can prevent simple mistakes. Checking all the boxes on this checklist won’t always be enough to get you the job. But it will at least get you started on the right foot.

What’s my name? — NAME and EMAIL

1. Do you keep your name consistent across your application?
Keep your name consistent. Whether Alexander is on your birth certificate, and you go by Alex, it’s up to you to run with one during your job search. We don’t care which you go with, but make it easier on hiring managers to search for you in their database, email, or on the web.

2. Does this consistent name match your email address from a reputable provider?
The best practice: Firstname.Lastname@gmail.com Again, it’s easier to search for when trying to reach out. University, business, or cute alias emails usually cause more trouble and confusion than they are worth. It’s easy to forward emails from one account to another. Make the one you share be public-facing and ready.

Who am I? — RESUME

If we could abolish the resume, we would. We know it can’t tell your whole story. And while it has it’s major limitations, when done right it’s a major asset in a job search. Doing these things will help:

3. Have you remembered that the resume is but one part of the process?
Your goal is to get to the next stage. First, get the reader’s attention. Then add more detail and dimension to your readiness as a candidate as the process goes along.

4 . Are you aware that your specific goal is to get an interview?
You don’t need to win the job at this point. You only need to advance to the next stage.

5 . Does your resume fit on one page?
Seriously, we mean it. It’s controversial. We know. If you have a multiple page resume, try cutting it to one. You may have created a better advertisement for yourself. Many think that you start with a one page resume in college, and it goes up in pages, ad infinitum, as your career progresses. What we’ve found is even C-Suite ready candidates can best sum up their experience in one page. We can get their full CV and detail later. Like Mark Twain said — probably apocryphally — “I was going to write a short resume but I didn’t have the time so I wrote you a multi-page one.”

6 . Have you made a simple design full of white space?
Be selective with the information you share. High density resumes give readers a headache. Be concise, clear, and clean. Make every word earn its place.

7. Have you gotten fresh eyes on it?
Often, other perspectives can help us see ourselves in a better light. At the very least, it will help you fix your typos. It happens to all of us, and sometimes we cannot notice the mistakes, no matter how diligent you may be. What may be hidden to us will stand out to fresh eyes. Ask your peers or collaborators to take a look.

8. Have you listed accomplishments not duties?
It’s conventional wisdom but we still see applicants refusing to follow this advice. It gets to the point where we start to question if there are accomplishments at all when only duties are listed.

9. Have you quantified those accomplishments?
Quantify. Quantify. People tell you this all the time. People rarely do it. This is the most surefire way to improve your resume in a matter of minutes.

10. Be backwards chronological. Is your education listed after your experience?
It helps a reader to see that you haven’t rested on your laurels since graduating from an impressive school. Instead, you’ve continued to build — and now feature — excellent experience and results. What have you been up to lately?

11. Is the year you graduated on your resume?
If you’re fewer than ten years out of school, then be sure to include this basic factual information. Don’t make hiring managers go searching for anything you can easily provide. If you’re more advanced in your career, then whether you display the year is up to you. It helps readers understand the full context and trajectory of your career, even if it’s been a winding path.

12. Have you signaled your reason for leaving your last job?
Help the hiring manager understand where you’re coming from. We all change jobs or directions. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Sharing a bit of context is always helpful. If you’re transitioning, or unemployed, it’s good to get back out there and applying. Don’t be afraid to share what you’ve been up to. Even if it’s tending to personal/family concerns, traveling, volunteering, or exploring a new career. Don’t let hiring managers project their own biases onto your experience.

13. Skip including your address but make it clear if you’re willing to relocate to the new city.
The hiring manager isn’t going to mail you anything — they don’t need to know where exactly you live, only that you currently live in or are willing to move to the city where the job is located.

14. Is it in PDF format with a proper filename like Firstname.Surname.Resume.pdf?
Hiring managers see a lot of resumes. If yours is saved as Resume.pdf, it will blend in with all the other Resume.pdfs out there.

15. Does it tell a story?
Can a reader see the arc of your career thus far? Don’t just make a list. Tie the thread of your experience together where you can. Share a sentence of context if you made an abrupt switch or there is a gap in your employment history.

How do I present myself? — PROFESSIONALISM

16. Have you included links to your public social accounts or portfolio website?
We don’t want to snoop on your social life, but it’s a big plus if we can see a well-presented Facebook and/or Twitter account.

17. Is your LinkedIn info up-to-date?
Does it include a professional picture? We don’t need to see what you look like. We want to see that you’re making an effort to project a professional, authentic image on the web.

18. Does it have listed descriptions and accomplishments for each role?
Take advantage of your hard work to make your concise one page resume and show off on the web too.

19. Is your voicemail greeting professional?
At some point a hiring manager is going to call. Be ready.

20. Have you defined some scope around your job search?
You’re qualified for lots of roles. But hiring managers get wary if you are applying to seemingly anything and everything across roles, organizations, and fields. You don’t have to have the answer but you need a sense of direction.

Questions? Email us at talent@rework.jobs and we may include your anonymous question in a future mailbag roundup. Good luck.

Ready for the next step in your job search?Create a 5-minute ReWork profile to get personalized job alerts from companies working on social, environmental, and cultural innovation.

One of the most forward-thinking brands in ethical fashion shared insight with ReWork into how their team is working to move the fashion industry towards a more ethical and sustainable model, while not compromising consumer experience and quality.

SOKO produces ethically made, modern jewelry handcrafted from sustainable materials by artisans in the developing world. Their pieces are beautiful. Though you don’t have to be in the market for a new necklace to appreciate (and learn from) what truly makes them unique — the innovative business model and culture they’ve engineered behind the scenes.

Why ReWork Is Watching SOKO

The Model

The artisan craft industry is the 2nd largest employer in the developing world, supporting the livelihoods of millions. These artisans remain trapped in their local communities, boxed out of large supply chain systems, and so left behind by the global fashion economy.

SOKO’s model is simple, but revolutionary. To address this problem, they’ve created an inclusive supply chain system — a ‘Virtual Factory’ — that leverages mobile technology to provide artisans with the knowledge, resources, and access required to give them the competitive edge they need to compete in the global market.

The Impact

Having served 10,000’s of customers online and many more through 400 international retailers — including Nordstrom, Anthropologie, and Fossil — SOKO is not only scaling business, they’re scaling their impact.

SOKO’s approach reduces waste, timelines and cost as compared to traditional supply chain models, allowing them to connect with and coordinate over 1,800 artisans, lowering the cost to the customer and increasing the revenue retained by artisans 25%-35%.

The Team

Founded by three women — Gwendolyn Floyd, Catherine Mahugu, and Ella Peinovich — SOKO is a values-led organization that is focused on building a successful business on ethics that inform their internal operations, as much as their external vision.

Straight from the Source: An Interview with Co-Founder Gwendolyn Floyd

ReWork: As a venture-backed serial social entrepreneur, you’ve had a lot of experience starting and leading social impact organizations.From a professional standpoint, when the opportunity to co-found SOKO presented itself, what aspects made it clear that this was the best next step for you personally?

Gwendolyn Floyd: I began my first business at 20, when I took time off from university to found an industrial design business focusing on behavior change for social and environmental good. After that I ran two consultancies that focused on technology, design, and social impact. I worked across the public and private sector focusing on leveraging technology and design to achieve development goals in emerging economies. Soko was then my fourth venture and the culmination and combination of everything i’d ever done professionally, which made it incredibly clear at the time that it was the right thing to do. In addition, having the opportunity to co-found Soko with two incredible women, Ella Peinovich and Catherine Mahugu, made it that much more compelling. Their brilliance and experience made me incredibly confident that we were the right team to achieve the ambitious goals we wanted to achieve with Soko.

R: SOKO is pushing the edge of the ethical fashion industry by marrying social impact, design, technology, and international artisanship. What other companies are doing it right?

GF: The companies I admire exist in very different parts of the fashion and retail landscape.

Patagonia is a constant inspiration as a vertically integrated brand whose commitments to innovation and sustainability are palpably authentic. Their values are their DNA and their success has served the fashion community as proof that ethical production can be profitable.

The Reformation, based in LA, has done the ethical fashion industry a great service by rebranding their version of ethical style as sexy and chic and smart. (versus the industry norm of a little crunchy).

On the opposite end of the spectrum are companies like Zara. Although aspects of their company are deeply unethical, the way they are leveraging supply chain innovation to minimize waste through demand responsive, just in time manufacturing is a huge inspiration to the ethical fashion space that in order to scale, we need to not just improve the industry from a materials input and human labor perspective, but from a systems level design and planning perspective as well!

R: What do you see as the biggest opportunity on the horizon for ethical fashion that companies, like SOKO, have to get right to make it mainstream?

GF: The current landscape provides two choices, fast fashion or slow fashion. I believe this is a false dichotomy that is holding the industry back from creating production systems where all stakeholders can benefit — consumers that want trendy product, retailers and brand that want to provide these goods affordably, and the humans and natural resources that produce them.

At Soko, we want you to have it both ways — fast and ethical. Through our innovative business model, we are redirecting existing consumer dynamics towards products which are less costly on human lives and the environment without sacrificing style and affordability.

Ethical Fast Fashion is our way of producing stylish and affordable, AND ethical goods with the fastest speed to market. In this model, consumers can shop consciously by default, never having to make sacrifices in style and affordability.

R: ReWork exists to fuel the most socially innovative talent and organizations working to make a positive impact. As a serial social entrepreneur What skills are you currently pushing your edge on and why does pursuing that development feel relevant now?

GF: Recruiting and management! We are growing quickly. Globally we are a team of over 50 and our US operations will double in the next 6 months. Attracting, retaining, and motivating the best talent we can find is the most impactful thing I can do for Soko right now.

R: As a company leader, what do you think is required to foster and maintain a healthy and thriving workplace environment, and what aspect of SOKO’s culture are you most proud of?

GF: The entire organization is driven by our commitment to doing things differently while wielding kindness, thoughtfulness, and empathy as powerful tools to most successfully execute our innovative vision. I know I am biased, but I am SO proud of Soko’s culture. It has enabled us to attract and retain the most incredibly creative, brilliant, and dedicated team and to be uncompromising in our dedication to the end-to-end transformation of the traditional fashion supply chain. I would say our cultural pillars of warmth, boldness, and innovation have allowed us to be both human centered and ethical as it relates to the people engaged in our supply chain from the artisans to the individuals and organizations that purchase our product and unapologetic about the need and opportunity we see in the industry for disruptive innovation.

Check out SOKO‘s shop and take 20% off your purchase using the code REWORK until the end of the month!

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